Consumers planned to spend more on groceries this year than last, and many chose to purchase name brand over private labels for holiday meals.

A new consumer study from Acosta revealed that 57% of shoppers who were surveyed planned to spend more on groceries during the 2015 holiday season, as compared to 2014.

Acosta’s shopper survey, conducted in early December, showed 72% of respondents planned to host a meal or party for family/friends during the December holidays through New Year’s Day. 68% of those shoppers indicated their holiday meal/party shopping is typically “planned,” meaning they planned to shop one to two weeks prior to the event, while 32% expected to shop for their holiday event the week of the meal/party.

“The growth in grocery spending this holiday season is encouraging for brands and retailers alike, as many experts anticipated this Christmas being a soft one across the board,” said Colin Stewart, senior vice president at Acosta. “With shoppers planning to try new recipes and incorporate prepared foods into their menus, providing easy solutions for shoppers will be key to finishing the year strong.”

New Recipes
68% of respondents planned on preparing a new recipe during the holiday season, driven by younger shoppers and shoppers with kids. These shoppers indicated a variety of sources for their new recipe ideas, including:

• Food/recipe websites (44%)
• Magazines/newspapers (43%)
• Family/friends (33%)
• Social media (33%)
• Restaurant dishes (30%)
• Grocery stores (28%)
• Cooking classes/lessons (26%)

Prepared Foods
77% of shopper respondents indicated they planned to buy prepared food solutions from the grocery store to help with their holiday meals/parties. Some of the most popular prepared items respondents planned to buy include:

• Store bakery-prepared pie/dessert (54%)
• Side dish (34%)
• Party tray, such as meats/cheese, vegetables/fruit or crackers/dip (29%)

Name Brand vs. Private Label
Shoppers report placing more value on name-brand goods during the holiday season. Some 25% of respondents said they typically buy more name brands in place of private labels this time of the year, while the same amount said they typically buy better name-brand items this time of year.

A Look Back at Thanksgiving
Acosta’s study also surveyed how shoppers celebrated Thanksgiving last month, with 93% of respondents celebrating the holiday.

• 52% of all respondents reported spending more than $75 on groceries for the meal; 24% spent more than $100.
• 69% indicated using prepared foods solutions from the grocery store to help with their Thanksgiving Day meal, such as a complete meal kit/package, a prepared side dish or bakery-prepared pie/desserts or breads/rolls.
• 15% of shoppers indicated they skipped the traditional turkey and enjoyed an “all vegetarian meal.”

This research was completed using Acosta’s custom shopper community panel as an online survey in December of 2015.